Variations: Mushveli, Mousewhale; Hafmús, Hafmus (“Sea-mouse”)

The chimaera, ratfish, or rabbitfish (Chimaera monstrosa) is a small and completely harmless deep-sea fish. Evidently its legendary counterpart the Múshveli, or “mousewhale”, is enormous and highly dangerous. As one of the illhveli (“evil whales”) of Iceland, it is inedible and delights in causing death and destruction.

Múshvelis are mostly mouth, ear, and tail. The gaping, deeply split mouth is large enough to swallow a rowboat in a single gulp, and the large, prominent ears stick out like sails while the animal swims. A long whiplike tail without a fin allows the múshveli to swim at terrifying speeds, so fast that the sea churns ahead of it. Instead of fins, there are two stumpy hoofed legs. These animals are over ten meters long, and light gray or brownish-black in color.

Múshvelis sink ships by ramming them or rearing up, placing their feet on the gunwales, and pushing down until the ship capsizes. If a múshveli is sighted, the best course of action is usually to make for shore as fast as possible, and once there make for higher ground. Unlike most other evil whales, múshvelis can clamber onto the beach with their stubby legs, but they are out of their element and give up quickly. One múshveli ran a boat aground and followed the sailors as far as it could. It easily shrugged off three bullets, and eventually returned to the sea with the next high tide.

Large boats are usually impregnable to múshvelis. In one account, two Icelandic fishermen on a small boat were alerted to the presence of a múshveli by the roar of the foaming sea. It was making right for their boat, and terror made them freeze up. Fortunately, the crew of a French fishing schooner saw their plight, and steered their boat into the múshveli’s path. The sea-mouse rammed the ship so hard that it listed to one side, but remained afloat. The múshveli continued to take its rage out on the French schooner while the fishermen were taken aboard to safety, and eventually the monstrous whale gave up and disappeared.

References

Davidsson, O. (1900) The Folk-lore of Icelandic Fishes. The Scottish Review, October, pp. 312-332.

Hlidberg, J. B. and Aegisson, S.; McQueen, F. J. M. and Kjartansson, R., trans. (2011) Meeting with Monsters. JPV utgafa, Reykjavik.